Which, so the world believes, will cure all ills which flesh is heir
to. It does not seem that Raleigh so boasted himself; but the
people, after the fashion of the time, seem to have called all his
medicines 'cordials,' and probably took for granted that it was by
this particular one that the enchanter cured Queen Anne of a
desperate sickness, 'whereof the physicians were at the farthest end
of their studies' (no great way to go in those days) 'to find the
cause, and at a nonplus for the cure.'

Raleigh--this is Sir Anthony Welden's account, which may go for what
it is worth--asks for his reward, only justice. Will the Queen ask
that certain lords may be sent to examine Cobham, 'whether he had at
any time accused Sir Walter of any treason under his hand?' Six are
sent. Cobham answers, 'Never; nor could I: that villain Wade often
solicited me, and not so prevailing, got me by a trick to write my
name on a piece of white paper. So that if a charge come under my
hand it was forged by that villain Wade, by writing something above
my hand, without my consent or knowledge.' They return. An
equivocation was ready. 'Sir, my Lord Cobham has made good all that
ever he wrote or said'; having, by his own account, written nothing
but his name. This is Sir Anthony Welden's story. One hopes, for
the six lords' sake, it may not be true; but there is no reason, in
the morality of James's court, why it should not have been.

So Raleigh must remain where he is, and work on. And he does work.
As his captivity becomes more and more hopeless, so comes out more
and more the stateliness, self-help, and energy of the man. Till now
he has played with his pen: now he will use it in earnest; and use